Posted by Belphegorite at 1:16pm Sep 23 '09Are they really multi-cellular, or are they a colony of single celled critters like coral? If they are multi-cellular, this is new to me. Exciting stuff!
And yes, we don't really have any reason to believe that us-like life is more likely than other types. But we don't really have reason to believe anything with only one data point. It's like me telling you to pick a number, and the last winner picked 5. You don't know what range I might use, or even how I'm picking the numbers. They might not all be equally likely, or they might. You have no reason to pick 5, but do you really have any reason not to pick 5? At least you know 5 could be a winner. Given our very small sample, our best hope is to look for us-like life as the most intelligent life we've encountered so far (dogs, rats, monkeys, humans and dolphins) are like us.
One thing I've always admired about SETI- Search for Extra Terrestial Intelligence. Not life. Intelligence, and specifically intelligence we can comprehend and communicate with. Specific, focused, pratical.
Now a general discussion about "possible life" that focuses on near-human life? Yeah, worthless. That's where the halophiles and cockroaches come in.
And yes, we don't really have any reason to believe that us-like life is more likely than other types. But we don't really have reason to believe anything with only one data point. It's like me telling you to pick a number, and the last winner picked 5. You don't know what range I might use, or even how I'm picking the numbers. They might not all be equally likely, or they might. You have no reason to pick 5, but do you really have any reason not to pick 5? At least you know 5 could be a winner. Given our very small sample, our best hope is to look for us-like life as the most intelligent life we've encountered so far (dogs, rats, monkeys, humans and dolphins) are like us.
One thing I've always admired about SETI- Search for Extra Terrestial Intelligence. Not life. Intelligence, and specifically intelligence we can comprehend and communicate with. Specific, focused, pratical.
Now a general discussion about "possible life" that focuses on near-human life? Yeah, worthless. That's where the halophiles and cockroaches come in.
Re: Given what we know of life, it makes sense. - Belphegorite